Georgetown’s crew team was on hand last weekend to partake in an East Coast fall ritual: the 39th Head of the Charles Regatta. As with any team as large as the Hoyas’, the results were mixed with some boats performing up to expectations and others struggling to meet their potential. Overall, the regatta offered the entire Georgetown squad a chance to evaluate its performance and hone its skills, a valuable experience regardless of finishing times.
“It’s good to get a race under our belts and it’s important to remember that the results from these races correlate to our performance in the spring,” women’s varsity coach Jimmy King said.
While the women’s lightweight and men’s novice teams began their seasons last weekend at the Navy Day Regatta and the Occocquan Chase Regatta, respectively, last weekend’s regatta marks the first time the entire team fielded boats in competition. An earlier regatta, the Head of the Potomac, was scheduled but the effects of Hurricane Isabel made rowing on the Potomac unfeasible at the time.
The regatta, like most fall competitions, was a head race. This traditional form of crew was brought over from England and consists of teams completing a twisting three-mile course. The boats usually begin 15 seconds apart from each other and each team is judged based on the best time, rather than who crosses the finish line first. The winners are proclaimed “head” of the course they just finished, hence the name of the regatta.
The Head of the Charles features rowing clubs from the United States, Canada and Europe, lending some world-class rowing quality to already fast-paced races.
The women’s team traveled to Boston with three boats: a lightweight four, a lightweight eight and an openweight eight competing in the championship eight race, the top competition for women. The lightweight four produced solid results, beating their bow, or starting position, by one place. While they were the 12th boat to start, they finished the course with the 11th best time out of 16 shells, but were the fourth best of the eight colleges in the race. The boat’s 20:35.533 performance edged out Bryn Mawr and Loyola Colleges, while the rowers finished just two seconds behind the Atlanta Rowing Club. The lightweight eight’s boat also rowed impressively. While their bow number was seven, the eight rowers quickly jumped ahead of the two boats in front of them, Villanova and the Western Rowing Club of the University of Western Ontario. The team kept on pace with the third and fourth place boats through half the race, but eventually slowed in the backstretch. Nonetheless, the team ended in fifth place with a time of 17:22.588, losing only to repeat champion Riverside Boat Club, Radcliffe, Wisconsin and Princeton.
“The lightweights came into the race with high expectations,” King said. “They are a deeper squad with more strength of talent than ever before.”
The openweight eight, competing for the first time this season, encountered some difficulties but persevered to finish with a respectable time. The team was the 30th to start, and finished 32nd overall in a race that included Canada’s national team and U.S. Rowing’s elite squad. The team settled into its planned stroke rate of 32 strokes per minute and held on through a challenging race, coming up with a final time of 17:29.460. The team finished a fraction of a second ahead of Miami and just ahead of Fordham’s boat, while finishing right behind Rutgers’ eight. The effort puts the team within striking distance of many of the teams that the Hoyas will face at the Eastern Sprints, the rowing championships held in late spring.
“Both varsity squads can take some confidence away from this race,” King said. “We’ve had a chance to see where we stand early in the year at a race that requires and helps develop maturity and mental discipline.”
On the men’s side, two boats competed: a lightweight eight and a heavyweight eight which rowed in the championship eight race like its female counterpart. The two different boats had very different experiences, with the lightweight team performing to expectation and the heavyweights dragging their oars throughout the event.
The lightweight boat was in the 11th bow spot and also finished in 11th place in 15:09.081, less than a second behind the ninth and 10th place boats, the Quinte Rowing Club and the Marin Rowing Club, respectively. While the team could not match such powerhouses as Princeton, Pennsylvania and Cornell, the eight lightweights managed to outpace Boston College, Dartmouth and Harvard throughout the three-mile course.
“The rowers are somewhat disappointed that they didn’t place better and there are a lot of expectations on their part to compete on the same level as last year,” men’s head coach Tony Johnson said. “Nevertheless, they have some key people back this year, and they’re on the road to doing something well this year.”
The heavyweight team did not match their expectations, placing 40th out of 41 boats. Their time of 16:20.089 was the slowest time on the course except for Colgate, which was penalized one minute and 10 seconds after the race. The coach was not pleased with the race, especially since the team had the 19th bow position going into the competition.
Both the men’s and women’s teams will take part in the Head of the Schuylkill Saturday in Philadelphia, a smaller regatta, but one with plenty of top-notch competitors. Both the varsity and novice teams are slated to send boats. Some rowers will also compete at the Princeton Chase on Sunday as well.
The head races in the fall help to raise the competition level of the team while allowing the coaches and rowers to examine the team’s strengths and weaknesses.
“Fall racing is valuable because it allows us to focus on problems while we train for the spring, but we are not so caught up in these races that we will sacrifice our spring season for results right now,” Johnson said.
For the races to come, the team has a solid foundation upon which to base its season.
“There certainly is a realization among the rowers after last weekend, and everybody is stepping up to do what they need to do,” Johnson said.
